President Uhuru Kenyatta would beat his closest challenger Raila Odinga if elections were held today, according to a recent survey by the Star Newspaper.

According to the survey, Uhuru would win by 48 percent margin against Raila’s 39 percent.

Among those who would vote for Uhuru, 59 percent said it would be because of his development record while 15 per cent of those who would vote for Raila tied it to his development agenda.

Raila would, however, beat Uhuru in terms of creation of employment, fighting tribalism and dealing with insecurity at 10.5 per cent, 3.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

On the gender card, Uhuru is interestingly more popular among women; 50 percent of female respondents say they would vote for him, compared to 34 percent for Raila.

The popularity of the two presidential candidates among male voters seems to be almost at par though where Uhuru has 47 percent, while Raila has 44 percent.

The Star poll was conducted in 28 counties sampled from the former eight provinces. It was done through Computer Aided Telephone Interview between May 3-14, with 3,430 respondents over 18 years old in the counties. The poll carries a 1.7 percent margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

The survey also noted an increase in the number of undecided voters, to 12 per cent, compared to 10 percent that was recorded in a similar poll conducted by the same paper in May.

In the May poll, Uhuru’s popularity stood at 49 percent, while Raila was at 40 percent.

Raila Closes Gap On Uhuru-Ipsos poll

A poll by Ipos conducted in May showed an increased public support for Nasa flag bearer Raila Odinga, putting him neck to neck with president Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to the IPOS poll, Raila Odinga and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka enjoy a 42 per cent support from registered voters while President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto support stands at 48 per cent.